by Robert Scheer

If you've read the chapter on Which Sacred Places Are The Most Powerful, you'll know that different sacred sites have different energies, which are picked up by one of the body's chakras.  According to many ancient traditions, the human body has seven energy centers or chakras, and they correspond to different emotions or aspects of our personality.

           They are:

1. The first or Root chakra, near the base of the spine, deals with primary issues: survival and safety.
2. The second or Sexual chakra, near the pubic bone, corresponds to sexuality, plus home and family.
3. The third or Sun chakra, near the solar plexus, below the breast bone, is for identity, place and self.
4. The fourth or Heart chakra, near the center of the chest, connects with love, relations, connections.
5. The fifth or Throat chakra, deals with communication and self-expression.
6. The sixth or Third Eye chakra, in the center of the forehead, is for wisdom and seeing the truth.
7. The seventh or Crown chakra, at the top of the head, is for spirituality and connection to higher power.

Contrary to popular belief, the chakras are not doors or valves which open or close. They cannot become blocked, but they can be stimulated to help us balance our overall well-being. If someone is having trouble understanding who she or he really is, it can help to stimulate chakra #3, etc. Some people who suffer traumas at a young age find they need work on their Throat chakra to help them be able to express their emotions.

Remarkably, you don't need to know any of this in order to benefit from travel to sacred places. You do not need to know, for example, that (a) you need work on your heart chakra, and (b) Lake Titicaca is a heart chakra site that might be helpful for you. The wonderful human mind/body system seems to do all this for us automatically. Here's how it works...

Suppose you go to a travel presentation where you see several hundred slides, taken at twenty different sites in a dozen different countries. It's likely that one or two pictures will really "jump out" at you. They may seem especially interesting, or beautiful, or dramatic. Perhaps you'll feel "shivers" when you see them. If this happens, you're getting a signal about where you need to go.

It happened for one man when he was simply walking down the street one day, not thinking about going anywhere. He was walking by the window of a travel agency when a poster in the window caught his eye. It was of the giant stone statues on Easter Island. He suddenly felt an unexplained urge to go to Easter Island. Even more amazing, a short time later, he happened to receive a free airline ticket to South America! Taking advantage of this remarkable serendipity, he went to Easter Island, where he received a message telling him what direction his life should take.

Most people never experience events quite so dramatic, but we can learn to become more sensitive to images that we feel unexplained attractions to. Try going to the library or a bookstore and thumbing through travel books to see if anything catches your eye. Or, "surf" through the many different web pages on this NewAgeTravel.com site and see which ones you feel most interested in. Who knows where this journey might eventually lead you?

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